We are also planning on producing a 7th edition of the MUMPS 1995 Pocket Guide and the MUMPS 1995 Workbook. I know that he's also thinking of doing a MUMPS 1995 reference manual. I can't say when these will be out, though, since they depend on Rick, who is always overloaded with tasks.

Getting Started in VISTA is well underway now, so it will probably come out in 2011.

MUMPS 1995 itself is also almost done, but it turns out we can't publish it because of the MDC's agreements with ANSI and ISO (kudos to Ed de Moel for helping to head us off on that before we ran into trouble), so we'll just use it to develop the next MUMPS standard. Therefore, those wanting the text of MUMPS 1995 need to order a copy from ISO. Those who want to see the next standard will see pieces of it here at Mumpster in the form of MDC extensions we'll be working on, but the complete next standard won't be semi-publicly available until the canvass process (if we opt to take that route), and won't be publicly available until ANSI or ISO accepts the new text and publishes it. If we decide to go a non-ANSI and non-ISO route, then this text will be a dead end and the next standard will be based on the MUMPS 1995 Reference (see below).

The MUMPS 1995 Workbook is an ongoing project that will probably last for the duration of this next cycle of Paideia MUMPS classes, since we'll want to incorporate feedback from students as we go (their price of admission). We'll be publishing draft chapters week by week starting very soon.

The Workbook will eventually be composed of three volumes, for beginning, intermediate, and advanced MUMPS. We'll publish them in hardcopy and ebook formats in the order we finish the courses; if I had to guess, I'd say it will be published as complete volumes in 2011 and 2012.

The MUMPS 1995 Reference was on the back burner until we found out about the copyright issues with the standard, so it is moving to the front burner as soon as we get the first couple chapters of the Workbook out the door. It will take some time to update it get it published. The 1985 text is in pretty good shape, and with Kathy Ice, Duglas Kilbride, and the various MDC folks on Mumpster we now have a pretty complete team for our purposes, so I'd say you can expect to see this in paper near or soon after the end of 2011.

That shift in priorities postpones the update of the MUMPS Pocket Guide, so I wouldn't bet on that book before 2012, which makes me much happier about the updates we included in the second printing of the 1995 Pocket Guide. We may publish some supplements to this existing Pocket Guide in 2011 concerning error processing and transaction processing, since we're likely going to have to produce that text in 2011 for other reasons.

I'm also thinking about the original MUMPS Primer and the role it played. We all assumed Dick Walters's books (ABCs of MUMPS, then later M Programming: A Comprehensive Approach) covered that ground, but Dick's book has grown into a textbook suitable for teaching from, whereas the Workbook is growing into a multi-volume student guide, so it seems to me there's still a need for a MUMPS book that's more student-oriented than M Programming, shorter and less hands-on than the Workbook, but more readable in a sitting than the Pocket Guide - which is exactly the niche the MUMPS Primer used to fit (though back then the big gap in coverage was the lack of a textbook like Dick's book). Therefore, we will probably update the MUMPS Primer, though we probably won't see an edition of it for MUMPS 1995.

The reason for that is that Kathy Ice has been making great progress at getting all of the current MUMPS extensions into electronic format, so I expect to have a new draft standard by the end of 2011 - maybe a lot sooner - so we will almost certainly have an official new MUMPS standard by 2012. The main variable left at this point is the decision about whether to go the ANSI/ISO route, which determines whether we base the next standard on the current standard or on the reference manual, which in turn determines how long this will take, since the standard's ready for updates and the reference manual isn't.

So, if we go the ANSI/ISO route, then we probably won't publish a MUMPS Primer update for the 1995 standard but will for the next (2012) MUMPS standard. If we go a different route, then we probably will publish a MUMPS 1995 Primer, since it could be done before the next standard is publishable.

We are also going to the M Computing and MUG Quarterly archives to bring out past articles of interest. That work is underway already.

We will eventually publish a MUMPS e-magazine, since some medical and academic folks need a place to publish to retain their standing in the community, and since organs like Wikipedia will believe in writing won't they won't accept from the mouth of the experts on a subject. We're clear about the rationale behind it and have some ideas about how to generate the content for it, but haven't taken any tangible steps to create it yet - mainly because Mumpster has stolen part of its thunder by addressing part of the need very effectively. I think we can expect MUMPS Computing magazine won't see the light of day until early 2012.

Alternatively, if you want your own paper copy, we are selling them for $6 each plus shipping (and sales tax if you live in Washington State). You can email me if you are interested for more information.

Thanks, Linda. I changed that to second printing. The first and second printings of the 1995 Standard MUMPS Pocket Guide are both the fifth edition, though the second printing includes some substantive corrections.

A status update for those interested: at last week's Network operations meeting, Duglas Kilbride reported that he's finished his part of the work on Computer Programming in Standard MUMPS (to be updated and published as the MUMPS 1995 Workbook). He's now beginning work loading and typesetting the Standard MUMPS Reference Manual (to be updated and published as the MUMPS 1995 Reference). In parallel, I'll be working on updating the Workbook and publish chapters for the Paideia class.

Alternatively, if you want your own paper copy, we are selling them for $6 each plus shipping (and sales tax if you live in Washington State). You can email me if you are interested for more information.

iam looking forward for Getting Started in VISTA book eagerly. Please let me know if you have any previous releases of this book. Thanks in advance.

toad wrote:

Getting Started in VISTA is well underway now, so it will probably come out in 2011.

MUMPS 1995 itself is also almost done, but it turns out we can't publish it because of the MDC's agreements with ANSI and ISO (kudos to Ed de Moel for helping to head us off on that before we ran into trouble), so we'll just use it to develop the next MUMPS standard. Therefore, those wanting the text of MUMPS 1995 need to order a copy from ISO. Those who want to see the next standard will see pieces of it here at Mumpster in the form of MDC extensions we'll be working on, but the complete next standard won't be semi-publicly available until the canvass process (if we opt to take that route), and won't be publicly available until ANSI or ISO accepts the new text and publishes it. If we decide to go a non-ANSI and non-ISO route, then this text will be a dead end and the next standard will be based on the MUMPS 1995 Reference (see below).

The MUMPS 1995 Workbook is an ongoing project that will probably last for the duration of this next cycle of Paideia MUMPS classes, since we'll want to incorporate feedback from students as we go (their price of admission). We'll be publishing draft chapters week by week starting very soon.

The Workbook will eventually be composed of three volumes, for beginning, intermediate, and advanced MUMPS. We'll publish them in hardcopy and ebook formats in the order we finish the courses; if I had to guess, I'd say it will be published as complete volumes in 2011 and 2012.

The MUMPS 1995 Reference was on the back burner until we found out about the copyright issues with the standard, so it is moving to the front burner as soon as we get the first couple chapters of the Workbook out the door. It will take some time to update it get it published. The 1985 text is in pretty good shape, and with Kathy Ice, Duglas Kilbride, and the various MDC folks on Mumpster we now have a pretty complete team for our purposes, so I'd say you can expect to see this in paper near or soon after the end of 2011.

That shift in priorities postpones the update of the MUMPS Pocket Guide, so I wouldn't bet on that book before 2012, which makes me much happier about the updates we included in the second printing of the 1995 Pocket Guide. We may publish some supplements to this existing Pocket Guide in 2011 concerning error processing and transaction processing, since we're likely going to have to produce that text in 2011 for other reasons.

I'm also thinking about the original MUMPS Primer and the role it played. We all assumed Dick Walters's books (ABCs of MUMPS, then later M Programming: A Comprehensive Approach) covered that ground, but Dick's book has grown into a textbook suitable for teaching from, whereas the Workbook is growing into a multi-volume student guide, so it seems to me there's still a need for a MUMPS book that's more student-oriented than M Programming, shorter and less hands-on than the Workbook, but more readable in a sitting than the Pocket Guide - which is exactly the niche the MUMPS Primer used to fit (though back then the big gap in coverage was the lack of a textbook like Dick's book). Therefore, we will probably update the MUMPS Primer, though we probably won't see an edition of it for MUMPS 1995.

The reason for that is that Kathy Ice has been making great progress at getting all of the current MUMPS extensions into electronic format, so I expect to have a new draft standard by the end of 2011 - maybe a lot sooner - so we will almost certainly have an official new MUMPS standard by 2012. The main variable left at this point is the decision about whether to go the ANSI/ISO route, which determines whether we base the next standard on the current standard or on the reference manual, which in turn determines how long this will take, since the standard's ready for updates and the reference manual isn't.

So, if we go the ANSI/ISO route, then we probably won't publish a MUMPS Primer update for the 1995 standard but will for the next (2012) MUMPS standard. If we go a different route, then we probably will publish a MUMPS 1995 Primer, since it could be done before the next standard is publishable.

We are also going to the M Computing and MUG Quarterly archives to bring out past articles of interest. That work is underway already.

We will eventually publish a MUMPS e-magazine, since some medical and academic folks need a place to publish to retain their standing in the community, and since organs like Wikipedia will believe in writing won't they won't accept from the mouth of the experts on a subject. We're clear about the rationale behind it and have some ideas about how to generate the content for it, but haven't taken any tangible steps to create it yet - mainly because Mumpster has stolen part of its thunder by addressing part of the need very effectively. I think we can expect MUMPS Computing magazine won't see the light of day until early 2012.

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